U.S. Pilots Say New Chinese Stealth Fighter Could Become Equal of F-22, F-35

China’s new Shenyang J-31 stealth fighter — making its debut next week at the Zhuhai international airshow — could eventually become more than a match for American stealth fighters in battle, several U.S. military and industry officials told USNI News.

“They’re still in the glossy brochure phase of development, so they still look ten feet tall and bulletproof,” one senior U.S. fighter pilot familiar with the F-35 program told USNI News.
“I think they’ll eventually be on par with our fifth gen jets — as they should be, because industrial espionage is alive and well.”

An undated photo of the Shenyang-J-31

Many suspect the J-31 is designed using technology stolen from the Pentagon’s nearly $400 billion Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program.

The senior U.S. pilot familiar with the F-35 — who has extensive experience flying the Lockheed Martin F-16 Falcon — told USNI News the Chinese jet is now likely more than match for existing fourth generation non stealth American fighters like the Air Force Falcons, Boeing F-15 Eagles and the U.S. Navy’s F/A-18E/F Super Hornet.

“They’ll probably be a handful right off the bat for all of our fourth gen stuff,” the pilot said.

One former Air Force fighter pilot extensive experience with foreign hardware told USNI News potential air battles might be more about sheer number of jets the Chinese might be able to put into the air versus the superior training of U.S. pilots.

“I worry about numbers more than particular platforms,” the former fighter pilot said.
“I imagine their jets and their weapons are pretty good. Don’t know about the pilots or their capacity to employ.”

Further, the retired pilot noted, airshows are designed to show off weapons to potential buyers, but offer no real information about what jet can really do during an actual combat mission.

“Just remember that airshows are exactly that — airshows.” the former pilot said. “Airshows provide no real clue to capabilities. As such, airshows generally rely on spectacular maneuvers to garner attention without providing substance. No different from the F-15C or the F-22.”

One current Air Force test pilot told USNI News that it would be difficult to gauge just how good the Chinese jet will be.

“Overall at this stage they’re not [operational] so it’s hard, for anyone to truly make a reasonable assessment,” the test pilot said.

There are still many unanswered questions about how the Chinese will operate their aircraft and what kinds of weapons the jets will carry. Perhaps the most important question is how good are the Chinese radars and other sensors compared to their American equivalents.

“How well will organic sensors work to support those weapons?” the test pilot asked rhetorically.

An undated photo of the Shenyang-J-31

For U.S. industry officials, the J-31’s debut at the Zhuhai airshow signals that the Chinese are planning on selling the jet on the open market.

“I would characterize the J-31 flying at the Chinese airshow as ‘incremental and measured,’” a senior industry official told USNI News.

“There have been some reports that the J-31 maybe be exported. If so, then showing it off makes even more sense to attract prospective buyers,” the official said.

The Chinese are making a lot of progress in developing their aerospace industry.

However, jet engines remain a weak spot for China.

“They have yet to field many of their “new” designs in any quantities,” the industry official said.
“Time will tell.”

Meanwhile, the Russia’s advanced Sukhoi Su-35 Flanker-E is also making it debut at the Zhuhai airshow.

The Chinese are reportedly interested in the purchase of 24 examples of the modernized Russian-built jet.

There has been much media speculation that the Chinese intend to reverse engineer the aircraft as they have with previous Flanker variants.

“I view the Su-35 buy as a conservative stop-gap measure while they wait for the J-20 and J-31 to enter service,” the industry official said.
“Gotta have aircraft to have an air force.”

About Dave Majumdar

Dave Majumdar has been covering defense since 2004. He has written for Flight International, Defense News and C4ISR Journal. Majumdar studied Strategic Studies at the University of Calgary and is a student of naval history.

Post navigation

Well for starters it has no internal gun or gun pod…(not the the British F-35Bs will immediately have a gun pod)

Raptor1

They don’t NEED a gun, they can’t get close enough to use it anyways – Unless, of course, they classify their childish brushes with our unarmed recon aircraft in International airspace as the ability to get into a knife-fight and win. I’d encourage them to try that with a Raptor, but they have to be able to SEE what’s in the area in order to even try it – It’d just be suicide 🙂

Jiesheng Li

Right so why does the F-22 and F-35 A have a gun?

Tommy

That’s what they thought with the f4. Then in Vietnam they realized THEY NEED A GUN!! Since then every American fighter will have a gun because when all else fails or you’re out of missiles you still have something to defend yourself with. Remember…missiles still can be jammed.

Ctrot

Vietnam was almost 50 years ago, the “that’s what they thought about the F4” has reached and well exceeded its expiration date. The missiles we have to day compared to the Vietnam era missiles are like comparing an iPhone to a rotary phone.

Chesapeakeguy

Tommy’s point about the F-4 and Vietnam is still a valid one. It’s the same kind of mistake some had made within our defense establishment who believed all conflicts would be nuclear after the the A-bomb, then the H-bomb, were developed and deployed. ‘Conventional war’ could ‘never’ happen again according to them, and a big part of our defense policy embraced that for some number of years. While the point about air-to-air missile improvement is also a valid one, guns are used for purposes other than air combat or ground strafing. To force a plane down (to make it land), or to make it identify itself, shots are fired to get the offending plane’s attention. It’s the aircraft’s way of ‘firing a shot across the bow’. I know that doesn’t happen often but it is a real possibility of it happening. And as has also been pointed out, if guns are no longer needed, why do both the US Raptors and the Lightnings have them?

H. H. GAFFNEY

We built the F4E with a gun for the air battles over North Vietnam.

Paul

Raptor1 was not implying that it doesn’t need a gun – He was being sarcastic, I thought that was pretty clear; I should know, I wrote it 🙂

Chesapeakeguy

Gee, they somehow came up with a platform that looks EXACTLY like ours! is that a case of ‘great minds thinking alike’? Yeah, right…

bucherm

Exactly? No, not “exactly”.

Not to downplay the espionage, but when you have a similar problem(stealth), have similar tools(CAD), you’re gonna come up with a similar solution. In the wild ti’s called convergent evolution.

Raptor1

No matter… By the time they “convergently evolve” an engine that can push their aircraft along fast enough to compete with the Raptor without disintegrating in flight, we’ll be on our third generation of the F119. 🙂

sferrin

That would explain why the X-35, X-32, and McDonnell Douglas/NG entry looked so much alike. Oh, wait. . .

bucherm

The Boeing design was the odd-man out because they were concentrating on solving the STOVL problem over conventional flight characteristics, making it essentially the same aircraft over all three models.

Lockheed overcame that hurdle by buying the tech from Yakolev. Of the three original designs, only Boeing looked substantially different than the others…and again, because they were concentrating on cost savings rather than performance(as you should know, the end result of the F-35 program is that despite external similarities there are substantial differences between the three models).

Ctrot

The F-35 “Three-Bearing Swivel Nozzle” was in place on the experimental X-35 before Lockheed ever visited Yakovlev. The significance of that visit has been vastly over blown by internet experts.

H. H. GAFFNEY

I saw the Yakovlev prototype at the now-Russian naval air museum in Murmansk. It was a pretty plane — looked like an F-11 of ours. It never worked.

Secundius

@ H. H. GAFFNEY.

The Grumman F-11 Tiger, didn’t have Swept-Backed wings.

Ctrot

Yes, the F-11 did have swept wings.

PragmaticNotPoliticalSolns

The Lockheed ducted fan was developed by Paul Bequiva of the Skunkworks. Boeing went with a harrier approach with a high wing design to try and get thermoplastic composites to work. (They did not) In short there were no similarities in fact Boeing never achieved vertical take off with their system.

bucherm, Lockheed didn’t get their engine design solution from Yakovlev, the Shaft Driven Lift-Fan design was created in 1986 alongside the Gas Coupled Lift-Fan (both F119 based) which made it’s way into the Boeing X-32. The SDLF you see today is a direct result of the ASTOVL program undertaken by DARPA and the UK MOD.

The visit to Yakovlev, if anything would have probably had more to do with sensors or EW because many of my fellow westerners like to convince themselves that Russia doesn’t have a very competent industry with regards to that particular branch of technology.

Chesapeakeguy

I stick to my point about how it LOOKS exactly like ours! Geezz..

F35FLYER

Also helps to steal the fucking blueprints from the pentagon if you want to make the exact same thing.

Gregory Dittman

The reason the F-35 looks the way it does is from computer modeling. 2+2 always equals 4 so likewise, there can only be one best stealth shape for the type of fighter one wants.

PragmaticNotPoliticalSolns

The main reason the F – 22 & F – 35 look the same is the same folks (concept design group General Dynamics / Lockheed Martin) The JSF program was meant yo be a low risk, low tech development effort. Lockheed had a valid design on the F 22 and many of the same requirements for the F35. hence the designs are similar except for the inlet.

KAB

They actually look very different. If you pay attention it’s easy to tell the F22 from the F35.

Matt

They look completely different….

Sandy

socialists and communists are adept at stealing everything – saves them money. Soviets did it all the time – remember the C-141ski and C-5ski?

Secundius

@ Sandy.

I remember when Stalin order that the three B-29’s interned in Siberia. Be reversed-engineered right down to the Japanese bullet holes in the fuselage and the repair patches cause by Japanese battle damage too…

JD

Really? To remember that you must be at least 100 years old, having risen to the high rank in the contemporary intelligence services to hear such tales and confirm them to be true.

PragmaticNotPoliticalSolns

That us how it is always done. The Mig 29 looks like the offspring of an F 15 & F 18. The key will be the performance of the engines, avionics and of course weapon systems.

jannidd

Anyone within the avionics industry will know that the J-31 CANNOT POSSIBLY be a copy of the F-35. Teh F- 35 is a single engine, while the j-31 is a twin engine. The “guts” of the planes are different, it is impossible, even with documents and blueprints on the F-35, for China to copy the plane. Clearly someone needs more knowledge on avionics and development of fighters. 😉 Tell that to your fellow US media as well.

Brian

Nothing to do with Chinese telecoms/spy infrastructure in US partner country

bridgebuilder78

Well, they are not exactly alike. You see, the Chinese had the common sense to think the single-engine configuration (to accommodate Jarheads’ fancy VSTOL requirement) completely daft. Instead, they have opted for twin-engines and a uninterrupted belly weapons bay.

chang kl

Well, what did you expected from China? hey are the biggest copy makers..cells, cars, tv’s
now aircraft..only thing they don’t copy is human lol

KC135TopBoom

This just could be a fly-off competition between the J-20 and the J-31 (the J-31 is also called the J-21 and the F-60).
It could also be that each will have a different mission, so both will be introduced. The J-31 looks to be more of a long range interceptor, so it will mainly go for tankers, bombers, and AWACS type warplanes. It seems to have a limited weapons bay, maybe just a single bay between the engines and amid-ship. The J-20, OTOH looks more like a supersonic medium bomber, mush like the USAF FB-111 was. Both of these Chinese airplanes do not seem to be very ‘stealthy’ aft, around the engine exhaust, like the F-22 and F-35 are. The J-31 also has a ‘stinger’ between the engine exhaust nozzles. Typically this would house ECM, RAWS, or radar detection equipment, none of which a true stealth aircraft would need.

Secundius

Mikoyan Mig-31 Foxhound, first Flight in 16 September 1975, first in Introduced in 6 May 1981. Goal to fly at Mach 3.2, Redline Vmo achieved Mach 2.83. Detection Range of 250-miles, Impressive, only it fighter isn’t smaller then a Boeing 707. First, Operational Status ~2017 CE. What kind of Fighter Program, has a 39-year Testing Period before becoming Operational…

Raptor1

Lost you somewhere, Secundius… What fighter program are you talking about that has a 39 year test program?… The Mig-31 has been operational for decades.

Secundius

@ Raptor1.

Sorry, My Bad, Typo. Suppose to be MiG-45, which is derived form the MiG-41 , which is derived from the MiG-31, which is derived form the MiG-29, which is derived from the MiG-25.

Paul

Never heard of a Mig-45 – Nor Mig-41, but you may be referring to Project 1.41, which was a prototype (2 built) – It MAY have some characteristics of Mig-31, but certainly is not a derivative.

Mig-31 is a different beast than the Mig-29 – But yes, the Mig-31 could be considered an advanced version of the Mig-25 (same interceptor role; high altitude and speed, same basic boxy airframe) – But in the end, the Mig-31 as we know has been flying operationally for quite some time – If they want to upgrade it, that falls outside its original development cycle… Otherwise the B-52 is going on a 50+ year development cycle… It’s been upgraded for the past 50 years, but not stuck in development.

Raptor1

So we have a prototype of an aircraft that LOOKS like it’s a legit 5th-gen… What makes anyone think that an aircraft that’s at the stage the F-22 was at more than 20 years ago can compete with the F-22 of today? Nope, sorry, ain’t buying into the hype. We KNOW the Chinese haven’t designed engines worth a squat, let alone an engine that compete with what the Raptor came “standard” with 20 years ago… They have NO experience with operational stealth, and I can guarantee you they can’t approach the Raptor’s avionics and sensors – And let’s not forget that we spent billions integrating/developing the software that holds it all together, an area which the U.S. is second-to-none in. There’s a lot more to building an aircraft than stealing some blueprints and copying photos, especially when you’re talking about the kind of industrial base you need to turn out an aircraft that by its “stealth” definition requires amazing accuracies and tolerances – I think we can all agree that “Made in China” doesn’t mean top-notch product,… Right?

Uniform223

Completely agree with you. Just because it looks like doesn’t mean it is.
Also something that many people seem to either forget or disregard is that the US has leading experience in LO tech, manufacturing, and strategy. Just because you have a race car, doesn’t mean you know how to drive it.

Gregory Dittman

There are wasp flies, flies that look like wasps for protection. This aircraft will probably be the same thing. There is a lot that goes into the F-35 which is why it’s so expensive Even if China had the exact plans, they still have to face Chinese corruption, general cost, training and commitment. China also has to think about how many it plans to build. My guess is that China plans to make less than 300, what China is calling, stealth aircraft.

Natural Order

Idiot,

These general cost is lower for everything in China, and this is why China owns the U.S.

KAB

Actually, not everything does. Advanced military hardware pretty much costs the same everywhere.

Natural Order

No, they don ‘t

jetcal1

As a general rule, starting out with “Idiot” is not a polite way to start a conversation.
Are you lacking intellectual or some other form of endowment such as courtesy?

Natural Order

No, idiot.

jetcal1

You must be very upset about something.

Natural Order

LOL… No

jetcal1

Polite discourse is a nice way to start a conversation.

Korba

Natural Order: 你确定自己是国家安全的部门。 FBI意识到。

Raptor1

I have a feeling they “plan” on making a whole bunch… But even China knows that money does not just appear; and you need to make a lot of money appear to design, test, and build a true 5th-gen.
Well now, if they end up with something that they feel is “good enough” and want to make 1,500 of them by the late 2020s, then they will have to face the reality that “good enough” may not be NEARLY enough to counter the matching number of F-35s;… protected by 200 F-22s that come complete with all the capabilities that China is trying to MATCH today, PLUS another 10-15 years of upgrades/mods specifically tailored to counter what WE see them deploying – Kinda funny really ; spend the next ten years fielding an aircraft you’re so proud to have stolen secrets about, only to have to watch as we enhance capabilities to leap out another 20 years beyond your latest and greatest… and then to have to “re-invent the wheel” AGAIN when you see the 6th-gen rolls out. Espionage may allow you to shortcut to a design, but you still have to build, test, operate, and maintain the “thing” you built. And the stolen plans DON’T contain some very important information, like advantageous design features, disadvantages, trade-offs, the software and weapons systems, and the all-important WHYs of their existence.

Raptor1

Well said, 223.

Natural Order

Unless you think everything made in China is about cheap, fragile crap in one dollar stores. Delusions can be very comforting, yes? I serious doubt China is really that incompetent. I think it is just an excuse to foke some money to the Russians, or it does not make economic sense, or good returns on investments, ROI.

Negev

I agree with this comment. Look…China has taken over the manufacturing base of the USA (GM was one of those companies that was eager to introduce advanced process manufacturing, Boeing manufactured parts for the 737 in China, and of course Silicon Valley opened up their technologies in CAD design..(American/EU Corporate Executive transferred US aerospace technologies to make their bonuses). One example of many, Honeywell also was eager to transfer avionics to the PRC. I also was a “special consultant” for China’s Aerospace base–so I am writing from real knowledge. Further, our buddies the FRENCH (Airbus) opened up their Wichita Design group to the Chinese to copy aerospace designs that existed in the BOEING DBMS–now known today as “big data.”. So why is anyone with a brain so surprised that the PRCAF wants equal force against the US, EU, Japan, SoKorea Airforces…Enough said…They have had the capabilities to manufacture, train, and maintain 5th GEN fighters for the last 5 years.

Eric

100% correct plus US/EU greed in between….and money back and forth ~

Val Cyril Estuche Estrada

Fact is, China knows much from the US,European yet US and Europe knows very little from China.

Shane Warne

US knows that China knows what the US and EU knows…….

Seriously though, in regards to high tech, there aren’t many areas (if any at all, except for a few niches), where China actually surpasses either the EU, US or Japan (let alone all combined). Not yet at least. And honestly, do you seriously think the US will export / off-shore their top secret military engineering projects to China? No. China aren’t going to be surpassing US defence tech anytime soon by stealing US designs in iPods, computers, random non-defense engines and so forth. Nothing amazing there.

Doc

That’s all good and well if we ‘secure’ our information, just look at the OPM fiasco, add to that the Iranian caught with sensitive F35 info on his way home. Finally where do they send their college kids for education, why the USA of course, talk about shooting ourselves in the foot, big business doesn’t care where the money comes from, they’d sell their own mothers, ask GE who supply the Iranians, as Toshiba (Not the larger conglomerate) who gave the Russians the secrets for our submarine propellers…

General-Zod

Of course they do,they steal everything. They deploy a vast army of hackers who are spying and breaking into networks 24/7. And we do business with them to lol

Rick Myles

They have no experience? They have whatever experience we have since they have stolen whatever we have learned and all the revisions we have made.

Raptor1

You can’t steal experience – Unless you steal the bodies of the people having the experience; which I don’t believe has happened at this point anyways..

ben

remember the usdid their own stealing how from britain

Springfield operator 1911

Your right but the problem is- Did the gooks steal the Sensor/Radar/optics as well? They stole everything else, what stopped them from stealing that tech as well?

Joe Schmoe

Simple. It’s under a different level of security. The air frames and other basic information are shown or published openly on the internet or at events. You can literally Google for much of the information. But when it comes to materials sciences, special manufacturing processes, and key hardware blueprints… well they’re not accessible via hacks. I won’t go into further detail.

I personally don’t like the word gook That’s what our solidiers called the heroic fighters of Vietnam. please be more respectable to the Chinese.

Doann

Springfield you must be from Ohio or MS….Naïve and Ethnocentric losser

Springfield operator 1911

First of all Dipshit, learn how to spell! I’m in CA and Springfield operator is the one of the .45 cals I own. You think I should respect the Chinese when they are the main culprit of cyber attacks against our country? Maybe you need to go back to where your from, because it damn sure doesn’t sound like its America, “Loser”

John Rose

we should never under estimate our enemys

Paul

True… But the flip side to that is that 1 China may or may not be an enemy (I tend to think not, but that’s just an opinion); and 2. Overestimating an enemy, especially in light of the tremendous amount we already spend on R and D and deployment, can be prohibitively expensive, to the point of being a drain on the economy, case in point being the F-35 itself.

Sam

they are not friends, Red China is not, that is for sure. look at their actions during the Korean War. Under the current goverance, and any governance likely under our lives, China is not a friend of the US constitution.

Grimreaper

This is military call sign grim reaper 55 and is
like the real thing but I don’t think that you
can not replace the human solider or even the
sibborg will do the job but termator is hear and
verry real and the human mind might be close and redun some how but for now watch the technolgy and how it involves to take over military duties and Jobs and for now my soliders and I sign off for now but see you all
some day and some how in the furture and
combat services some how .
Your solider as grim reaper .

sferrin

Not a single name to attribute quotes to? Really?

Tempus Fugit

the US Air force should purchase 1000 Saab Gripen E/F jet fighters instead of the JSF-35! These could be produced in Boeing factories in the United States and provide good paying jobs for Americans! Later, Boeing can sell these Gripens to foreign countries! …..kind of a F-16 export version for the 21st century!
Any feed back………………………………..please!

Ctrot

Ridiculous idea.

Michael Rich

Probably one of the stupidest ideas I have ever heard.

AKO

American De-Industrialization

Continues Unabated

America’s economic elite has long argued that the country does not need an industrial base. The economies in states such as California and Michigan that have lost their industrial base, however, belie that claim. Without an industrial base, an increase in consumer spending, which pulled the country out of past recessions, will not put Americans back to work. Without an industrial base, the nation’s trade deficit will continue to grow. Without an industrial base, there will be no economic ladder for a generation of immigrants, stranded in low-paying service-sector jobs. Without an industrial base, the United States will be increasingly dependent on foreign manufacturers even for its key military technology.

nickRay

What does it matter? We can’t go to war with China! We’d have to borrow the war budget from them.

Jonathan Martins

Only 7% of the U.S. debt is owed to China. The U.S. was able to fight through World War 2 with massive amounts of debt. Truth be told, debt is insignificant during a total war.

nickRay

No US President would sacrifice Walmart by waging war on their supply chain.250 million American dead? Sure. The Walton family fortune? No way.

This plane might be the equal of a F-35 in a decade. Stealth technology, the software that runs the platform and networks it to other platforms, and the sensor capabilities cannot be built in under a decade or two. It will never ever be a competitor to the F-22. However, like the article stated, numbers do matter.

H. H. GAFFNEY

They still have lousy old Soviet engines. And their test ranges do not appear adequate to test their stealth. And where are they going to operate? Attacking who?

madskills

Wasn’t a Yugo a copy of another car? So we don’t know if they got the metallurgy right, the software right, the engines right, the electronics right, the weapons right. Yeah they are equal, just like a Yugo was equal to a Toyota.

R’ Yitzchak M

One thing might work for them.. compatibility to the F-22 is a pure fantasy but trough economic scale of productivity China is a major COMPETITOR and if need to be they can sacrifice all “butter” to relocate into the production of GUNS. Remember Porshe’s Tiger Mark IV, and Panthers, FW-190’s ME-262 were far superior to the Shermans, T-34 or anything allies could produce but NUMBERS did make the difference.
Given time China will be a major and very aggressive contender.

Joe Schmoe

Fair argument. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if China produced superior equipment later this century, reversing that metaphor. China has more potential adversaries than allies including Russia, India, Japan not to mention the entire West- and the more it grows and uses its power to expand… the more the rest of the world will backlash.

R’ Yitzchak M

Joe Schmoe there is an interesting “entropy” in conventional wisdom vis a vis China. It is an fact I could hardly factor in my conventional outlook of anything that could make any sense.. think of this IF CHINA MADE ONE YEAR OF CROP LOSS IT WOULD TAKE THE WORLD 400 YEARS TO FILL THE “GAP”.. That was one shocker I heard some long time ago.. China is global anomaly; you could not conventionally scale that threat.. On Alliances you mentioned.. you would really bank on them? Pakistan? Russia? Malaysia? Indonesia? They are perhaps just a “noise” makers a “DRAG” perhaps but on whose side? China has something that works for them, they do remember and they have excellent ability to learn and to adapt in order to MATTER. The worst thing is to underestimate the enemy ESPECIALLY in the “game” you are not familiar with. All our learning references are of “compatible SCALE” of economy, military, and political arena. Von Clausewitz “On War” elaborated mechanisms of conventional attrition in the “dynamics-economy of warfare” but nothing of this scale. Productivity is the ONLY tangible parameter by which you might get some idea of “conventional” assessment. BUT it is still illusion to take that as a “conventional” “IF”.. I believe the biggest ace in the China’s sleeve is our “ARROGANCE” we have no clue what makes a great empire to exist for 5000 years we as a western civilization can count perhaps from a 550 BC up to now? Perhaps even.. ? It is not to “glorify” but to assess a clearer assessment what WE are truly facing today as a potential threat. China WILL move it does need RESOURCES, it is asserting the sphere of influence in Africa, Pakistan and Asia in general. It still has to develop a navy.. but I would not hold the breath on that one.

Joe Schmoe

I agree. I wouldn’t be surprised if China dominates into the future- it only makes sense that a billion productive people will get their due. That said, I also wouldn’t be surprised if it goes through periods of civil unrest or even another civil war after taking an economic hit. It’s one thing to say that China and the Chinese are an anomaly, but to believe that power does not corrupt and divide would be a big mistake. The more educated and wealthy the average citizen is (as is the trend there), the more power they will hold in groups. It’s practically a saying that the Chinese government is more afraid of its own citizens than it is about about external intervention (hence the lingering police state). Couple that ferment with growing bourgeois power, and the government will either crack down harder on them, inciting violence, or fall apart due to infighting. Either way, it won’t be smooth sailing outside, nor inside of China.

R’ Yitzchak M

Potential of Chinese underlying conditions of potential unrest appear to be significant? Appearance could be deceiving dough..? It is interesting throughout of history tyranny vs. democracy, democracy prevailed.. Athena-Sparta vs. Persia, Rome.. etc. Democracy has the “magic” power that strong morale fiber is making the difference that really MATTER. Look at the Swiss during the WWII they shot if I remember correctly 268 US and around 220 German planes (ticking Adolf royally.. but not he, even being BARKING mad.. but still not mad enough to venture on Swiss) So there is some miraculous power in democracy? BUT! Aztecs lived under the TERROR of tyranny for hundreds of years and it did work “like the clock work”, Look at the North Korea.. contrary to the common
sense OPPINIONS those guys were so brain washed that it is unthinkable for them to be without “great leader” (until another queen-bee got “well” established).USSSR used to have interesting crowd control they went into the neighborhood beat the neighbor (nation) into the pulp to show its crowd if they did that to “them” just imagine what they could do at home? Trust no one but your superior.. in
mater of fact future officers were chosen from the kids which DID NOT SOCIALISE, so blending inn was not an “natural thing” but to be LEARNED to be utilized for the services to the Communist Party of USSSR. The communist hero of that era was tovarish Morozov a younge feller who betrayed his parents to the KGB (NOT Kind of Good Guys ) there was hysteria driven movements to follow his “shiny” example to betray their parents.. so “kids” when they come to the age to “demand the social justice” from their parents because they are just the drag and they need apartment, they went to the KGB guys and “miraculously” apartment become theirs comrade bustard become “respected” member of the communist party.. that was a totally “next level” maaan of social justice…? 1/3 of
Russians got exterminated in that way being betrayed by their children, neighbors, friends.. and what is left it still beat the living daylight out of Germans? Probably some still unreached and untouched by the communist plague.
Those were rudimental means of terror attrition-loses of population were huge. But observe methods of STASI and Yugoslavian UDBA. Every 10, 15 or 20 years there was a natural generational shift of young intelligent and courageous souls that will rise to occasion, when yes they will challenge “CRAZY” thing in their midst, they will suggest.., write, perhaps even believe in good things
about the fellow man and what they could offer to matter. Government feel that as a season of pending “virus” infection, so they use a stem-cell approach by
injecting provocateurs to incite and to mark the “infected cells” from the healthy (usually gray zombie walking dead RELIABLE crowd). So what they do they got into the groups and since they have the support of the “dark shadows of the system” they got microphones, balconies they are taking over whole movement slowly but surely.. Frankesteining the every limb of that movement using the
extreme abominations that no normal human being in that society could stomach..so student movement become Ustashi Nazi movement, few years later again student
movement become Infombiro “movement” and no one in the right mind would support that idiocy and government waited just long enough until whole population had “enough”.. so initial HEALTHY kids which were able to galvanize and have significant social GRAVITY (a man of integrity and influence) disappear and in the many
cases with their whole families; except very few that they REALLY BROKE over which they really have the absolute control they do release them just to make an terror example to others, oh yes this is critical the provocateurs who rated on their colleagues they got wrist slapped to be immediately promoted as a “gesture” toward the “democratization” of the “youth” while releasing the “damaged” goods and blaming them for being the rats thus deflecting from any of real RATS that are running the show now as a “respected” political future of the country.
Generally in overall there is no need of massive executions, or show trials like in 1930, 1990’s etc. Everything is in “shadows” doubts, paranoia on your neighbors, friends, who is the rat? To whom to trust? Is that worth it? Now on China I really believe that they are the masters of terror.. they are immeasurably more
intelligent, patient and mechanically cruel.. without any moral trepidations.. Imagine case in point one comrade in a hospital needed an organ they got two guys to the parking lot of the same hospital blew the heads of those 2 guys and operated on them and run into the hospital with the organs for the dear comrade in need.. oh yes those two their families got charged for the services rendered (2
expanded bullets). So China and uprising is NOT HAPPENING.. they can always use “class-struggle” from the hungry and VERY JELAUS peasant to be utilized to
quench thirst for some kind democracy of the “rich” and “privileged” middle class “intelligentsia”, ruling class knows that RUTLESLY SO. Incidentally remember the classic “Prince” Niccolo Machiavelli gave that book to the “Prince”
and in turn he got a “sweet” gift back a JAIL TIME.. why? Because “Prince” knew that subject very well perhaps much better than Machiavelli’s book REVEILED. For
tyranny terror is totally optional perhaps even unnecessary but the brain washing is critical. And of course controlled “chaos” of provocateurs is a backbone of every (smart-evolved) tyranny.

R’ Yitzchak M

Potential of Chinese underlying conditions of potential unrest
appear to be significant? Appearance could be deceiving dough..? It isinteresting throughout of history tyranny vs. democracy, democracy prevailed.. Athena-Sparta vs. Persia, Rome.. etc. Democracy has the “magic” power that strong morale fiber is making the difference that really MATTER. Look at the Swiss during the WWII they shot if I remember correctly 268 US and around 220 German planes
(ticking Adolf royally.. but not he, even being BARKING mad.. but still not mad enough to venture on Swiss) So there is some miraculous power in democracy? BUT! Aztecs lived under the TERROR of tyranny for hundreds of years and it did work “like the clock work”, Look at the North Korea.. contrary to the common sense OPPINIONS those guys were so brain washed that it is unthinkable for them
to be without “great leader” (until another queen-bee got “well” established).USSSR used to have interesting crowd control they went into the neighborhood beat
the neighbor (nation) into the pulp to show its crowd if they did that to “them” just imagine what they could do at home? Trust no one but your superior.. in mater of fact future officers were chosen from the kids which DID NOT
SOCIALISE, so blending inn was not an “natural thing” but to be LEARNED to be utilized for the services to the Communist Party of USSSR. The communist hero
of that era was tovarish Morozov a younge feller who betrayed his parents to the KGB (NOT Kind of Good Guys ) there was hysteria driven movements to follow
his “shiny” example to betray their parents.. so “kids” when they come to the age to “demand the social justice” from their parents because they are just the drag and they need apartment, they went to the KGB guys and “miraculously” apartment become theirs comrade bustard become “respected” member of the communist
party.. that was a totally “next level” maaan of social justice…? 1/3 of Russians got exterminated in that way being betrayed by their children, neighbors, friends.. and what is left it still beat the living daylight out of Germans? Probably some still unreached and untouched by the communist plague. Those were rudimental means of terror attrition-loses of population were huge. But observe methods of STASI and Yugoslavian UDBA. Every 10, 15 or 20 years there was a natural generational shift of young intelligent and courageous souls that will rise to occasion, when yes they will challenge “CRAZY” thing in
their midst, they will suggest.., write, perhaps even believe in good things about the fellow man and what they could offer to matter. Government feel that as a season of pending “virus” infection, so they use a stem-cell approach by injecting provocateurs to incite and to mark the “infected cells” from the healthy (usually gray zombie walking dead RELIABLE crowd). So what they do they got into the groups and since they have the support of the “dark shadows of the
system” they got microphones, balconies they are taking over whole movement slowly but surely.. Frankesteining the every limb of that movement using the extreme bominations that no normal human being in that society could stomach..
so student movement become Ustashi Nazi movement, few years later again student movement become inforombiro “movement” and no one in the right mind would support that idiocy and government waited just long enough until whole population had “enough”.so initial HEALTHY kids which were able to galvanize and have significant social GRAVITY (a man of integrity and influence) disappear and in the many cases with their whole families; except very few that they REALLY BROKE over which they really have the absolute control they do release them just to make
an terror example to others, oh yes this is critical the provocateurs who rated on their colleagues they got wrist slapped to be immediately promoted as a “gesture”
toward the “democratization” of the “youth” while releasing the “damaged” goods and blaming them for being the rats thus deflecting from any of real RATS that are running the show now as a “respected” political future of the country.
Generally in overall there is no need of massive executions, or show trials like in 1930, 1990’s etc. Everything is in “shadows” doubts, paranoia on your neighbors,
friends, who is the rat? To whom to trust? Is that worth it? Now on China I really believe that they are the masters of terror.. they are immeasurably more intelligent, patient and mechanically cruel.. without any moral trepidations.. Imagine
case in point one comrade in a hospital needed an organ they got two guys to the parking lot of the same hospital blew the heads of those 2 guys and operated
on them and run into the hospital with the organs for the dear comrade in need.. oh yes those two their families got charged for the services rendered (2 expanded bullets). So China and uprising is NOT HAPPENING.. they can always use “class-struggle” from the hungry and VERY JELAUS peasant to be utilized to quench thirst for some kind democracy of the “rich” and “privileged” middle
class “intelligentsia”, ruling class knows that RUTLESLY SO. Incidentally remember the classic “Prince” Niccolo Machiavelli gave that book to the “Prince”
and in turn he got a “sweet” gift back a JAIL TIME.. why? Because “Prince” knew that subject very well perhaps much better than Machiavelli’s book REVEILED. For
tyranny terror is totally optional perhaps even unnecessary but the brain washing is critical.

publius_maximus_III

Looks like the Chinese are sticking with a dual-engine design like the F-15 Strike Eagle and F/A-18 Hornet, while we are going with an “all our eggs in one basket” design in the F-35 program. Which concept has better survivability in combat, more weight with less maneuverability (2 engines) or less redundancy with lower reliability (1 engine)? Which path would Confucious have choosen?

Gregory Dittman

China also has more concerns for errors. Corruption is rampant in China. My guess is that the Chinese government may think it’s a stealth fighter, when it’s just a con by the manufacturers. The only way to know if you truly have a stealth aircraft is to fly it over enemy territory and see if the enemy can spot it.

Secundius

@ publius _maximus_III.

To quote the word’s of the comedian Ron White. “How far do you get on a two-engine plane with only one-engine working, as far as the crash site”.

Raptor1

That’s why he’s a “comedian”, because he makes jokes. I’m pretty sure he wasn’t implying that a 2-engine plane is unsurvivable… And I’m POSITIVE he wasn’t implying that having 2-engines is worse than a single engine – As mentioned, he’s a comedian, not an idiot.

R’ Yitzchak M

And F-22 if you had flown 2 engines comedy a side you thank G-d that something is still keeping you flying that plane instead of “flying” that BRICK.

Secundius

Nah, it’s most likely our trusted Israeli Allies. After all the Tried and Failed too sell the “PHALCON” Advanced Airborne Early Warning System designated for the Grumman E-2D “Advanced Hawkeye”, to the ChiCom’s.

R’ Yitzchak M

US Israeli most trusted ally sold and manned (trained) 5 E-3 AWACS’s to Saudis (our “trusted allies”) of 18 terrorist that MURDERED 3,000 Americans 15 were Saudis AND the PRINCE THAT financed that MURDER went scot free.. oh yes as a aspiring “diplomat” (REWOKED 6 months EARLIER) allies?

R’ Yitzchak M

No comparison to F-22 (except its looks want to-be) First heated exhaust elements, instead of circulated & cooled exhaust. Today there is much emphasize on IR signatures of the airplane. Also interactive radar surface of F-22 fuselage for the passive radar detection with link 16 array interaction with surrounding assets like Growlers, XB-47 etc.. electronic capabilities of F-22 are true paradigm changers. Also supersonic cruse that does NOT affect surface temperature changes are still years ahead of competition.
Yes it looks alike but there is still a LONG ways to go. “Minute” difference do make the difference between extremely expensive casket and a game changer. F-35 IS different story altogether.

publius_maximus_III

Yitzchak — Agreed about that “ace” of a totalitarian government. A country that can get away with building ghost cities full of completely empty high rise condos would certainly have no problem shifting its production priorities away from pleasing the People (with say, more automobiles) to building military hardware out the kazoo instead.

R’ Yitzchak M

Pulius_maximus_III that is a quite substantial factor and there are few examples in history to put that in a context. First there is an anecdote where German POW asked a Russian soldier: “How come we were superior soldiers better trained and equiped but you prevailed?” Russian asked the German showing him a horse manure: “Can you eat this…??” German looked with disgust “NO!!” and Russian replied well that is your downfall.. II Example was a Napoleon he used conscripts ti fight the best trained professional armies in Europe and prevailed.. hjow? Conscripts DID NOT KNOW that taking of the hill is “game is up” and no professional army would go trough attrition of tactical losses 3 to 1 or 4 to 1 (depending on terrain) conscripts charged irrespective of losses.. so that was Napoleon. Simple but with enough “dedication” did made the difference. Strtategicly we have to factor a major paradigm shifts in comparison with Vietnam, N. Korea and China quite different players and totally different economy of scale (economically and militarily). Russian players are quite corrupt like case with Milosevic which was their undoing.. china had quite few models to learn from, and are more intelligent to factor that in their equation.

publius_maximus_III

Isaac — Let’s hope the PLA is not training its fighter pilots to eat horse manure, and that they’re an all-volunteer outfit and not suicidal conscripts.
I think one big advantage we have over the Russians is that we only share an ocean with China; they share a very long land border. I’m sure the U.S. is light years ahead of the Chinese in carrier design and operations. So for now, Vladimir Putin needs to be more wary about their new J-31 “stealth” fighter capabilities than we do.

R’ Yitzchak M

Agree they all ready had a conflict on Ussuri River pragmatically China will have to pay for Siberian resources few trillion Dollars or few million soldiers it is not hard gues what the comrades will choose. It is obvious that everyone is on Russian case today.. not to be able to develop navy in order to become another competetive empire. There is a difference between regional power and empire that empire have means to PROTECT their spheres of influence and their access to trade. Crimean war was made to “teach” Russia not to get involved in the Balkans France, Britain, Turkey and Germany wanted to join (if needed) to prevent Russia of helping Serbs, Bulgars and Greeks against Ottoman Tyrany.. I WW, was “just” a natural growth – order of the same philosophy , WW2 everyone agreed is just a continuation of the WW1 in those two wars there were allies agains the axis today everyone is the on the same “page” revisionism and revanshism goes along the “new” German “SPHERES OF INFLUENCE”? So China will walk trough Russia.. what then will happen with the Europe? Last time when Europe faced Mongols inspite of all technological and cultural flare of Europe did not ammount to much? The biggest mistake one could make is to underestimate its opponent Germans did it few times before? I do not mean Russia but the China. Russia has no chance by conventional means.. with the non conventional she can hurt quite a bit. Russian potencial targets are well spred ours are well concentrated.

onenil

Chinese engines and avionics are still crap so I wouldn’t get worried for quite some time.

Robert A. Little

Today, they are crap, today. Ten years ago they were flying Mig 15’s; today they are test flying the J-31. Look twenty years ahead. The few F-22′ we have will have exceeded their airframe hours, the F-35 will be mature on the way to over ripe, and what will our Congress have accomplished? What will the Chinese have accomplished in the next 20 years. Think people.

Butch Meisner

Of course “US military and industry officials” are saying this. Stoking fears of losing air superiority virtually guarantees the Congress will allocate billions of more taxpayer dollars to make sure that doesn’t happen.

Colt

And yet we still allow the Reds to send their children over here to get educated at our top schools. China is as big (if not a bigger) a threat to America as those Islamofascists. Just read what their war planners have said about their goal to dominate the world.

Joe Schmoe

Do a little more research on how that actually benefits the US more than China and other countries for that matter. They tend to stay here, or return with family in tow later on. Unfortunately, we often can’t produce such engineers with our own education system.

State Run Media

The Chinese students who do study abroad in the US are the elite of the elite when it comes to education. The richest families (typically from Shanghai or Hong Kong) come to the US and U.K because China’s education system is terrible. The Chinese educational system is extremely geared toward taking multiple choice tests. Mostly to portray the CCP in a good light when it comes to the PISA tests, which are no where near a good indicator of a good educational system. This results in students that are very good at filling out exams but lack critical thinking, creativity, and problem solving skills.

ObamatheIllinoisIdiot

Cardboard and glue.

Aaron_Burr

Back in my day when dinosaurs ruled the earth my squadron was flying F4Bs and everybody was so worried about the Mig-25 Foxbat. Mysterious. Very fast. Turned out that the thing was a lead sled that could go fast in a straight line but couldn’t maneuver and unless it could get in a long range missile shot would have been totally helpless in a dog fight.

I’d wait until we can see a few operational J-31s before losing any sleep over them.

Robert A. Little

If you have, say, a formation of four F-22s, you have a total of 32 missiles; In this scenario the Chinese approach would seem to be to field forty planes. If the U.S. builds even half of the expected 2400+ F-35’s, that would be 1200 or so, many of which will go to foreign nations. There is no possible way to maintain our present responsibilities with this number of fighters, and with the New Republican Party now firmly in charge of the budget, there exists a reasonable expectation of even greater cuts in military spending on new technology. The Old Republican party is, of course, the reason our military is tired and worn out, why we have so many binding agreements that cover the entire globe. The next two years will be interesting: we’ll see the 50th attempt to kill the ACA, more continuing resolutions that disrupt the military budgets and cause costs to soar, more sequestration, possibly an impeachment, but we won’t see new funds for energy weapons, or full funding for the few programs that show promise of actually providing this country with a competent military and we won’t see veterans receive the health care they deserve.

Raptor1

Robert, the Republican Party which you bash upon as the cause for our aging equipment also BUILT the military that’s been fighting the past 10+ years. Republicans historically support a strong military, Reagan was a prime example of that – Much of the equipment in regular use was procured under, or designed during, a Repub’s tenure as Pres.

R’ Yitzchak M

Raptor you are right Reagan almost broke the the whole economy by allocating a major economical resources into production shift to INFRASTRUCTURE and next generation military solutions.. The cost of military was much less than cost of war so that was the best investment into a healthy future in recent time. BUT!! He oppened a “FREE TRADE” which I am totally for BUT!!! Fair trade foremost there is no “free trade without FAIR TRADE”. Reagan penalized Japan with tarifs up to 25% for “dumping” (selling their cars for lesser cost than they did for their domestic market..) now China still using slave labour and “almost” slave labour IT IS UNFAIR “competetive” edge against the domestic INDUSTRY and labour while transfering production and ECONOMY AT LARGE to our foremost competitor AND future contender – foe? It was a Reagan’s and Bush “wisdom”.

Joe Schmoe

CUDA missile.

valwayne

So while Obama guts our military and lets the Chinese get away with stealing all of our most secret technological secrets the Chinese are taking full advantage of our weak failed President, and the window he is giving them to surpass our nation. Everywhere you look 6 years of Obama has led to disaster, and our adversaries are happily taking full advantage. This means folks that not all that far in the near future the U.S. will NOT have the #1 military. Obama will have destroyed that, and that means if we have to defend ourselves or our allies that we may well fail, and how many will die?

Dave_TX

Are you willing to pay taxes at a rate that will support the military capabilities you demand?

R’ Yitzchak M

Since R. Reagan China was getting all kind of goodies, and especially G. Bush Senior III Stage rocket sequencing separation, Italians gave them accurate re-entry guidance system .. etc. etc. Global “community” disfranchised U.S.A. labor, industry, know how toward the “new” global “society” void of national interests and borders a “GLOBAL WILLAGE”, Germans tried the very same concept 2 previous “sessions” and world voted no a categorical no with over 50 million of victims who can voucher for that.. it is sad really sad that to all those veterans who spilled their blood and bones can see the same macabre storm gathering again. Who failed to learn from history is cursed to repeat it again.

consolacion barcenas

It is not surprising. Americans are more like braggarts. Show offs. While they prattle on, the Chinese have been quietly stealing our technological, military and state secrets. Plus one thing that the Chinese have that Americans have. Discipline. It is only a matter of time before this country will cede leadership role to China.

Armand Rodriguez

Why steal it when the administration will give it to them for free?

Dave Davis

We don’t have to go to war with China to find out how we fare against these. I agree that this definitely smells of a marketing platform. Sell a few to Syria, NK, or anyone else we may bump heads with in the sky. I’m sure that will prove interesting.

Cjones1

I believe that China’s nationalists will try to develop what is best, but those who want freedom for their country will work with us to deter the Communist advantage.

Rick Myles

The US just refuses to take cyber warfare and espionage seriously. The Chinese are stealing the USA’s lunch and we refuse to respond. I fully expect China to establish space based laser weapons eventually (actually building Reagan’s Star Wars). When they do it will render the USA’s ICBM’s and nuclear deterrent useless. While the USA has abandoned its space program entirely under Obama. Another mistake.

Did Obama abandon the space program? I thought Congress was responsible for funding?

anthg

The US doesn’t advertise its cyber warfare capabilities to the world. Nobody is going to make our ICBM’s defenseless. What about our Subs. Most of our Nukes are at sea. No cyber threats there. Its overblown. Did you know lightning can cause an EM Pulse? You don’t have to explode a bomb to make one. You can even make EMP’s that cover , say 100-200 yards. don’t worry about cyber attacks.

General-Zod

The US will be fine in that department The Chinese have nowhere near the capability that we do n that regard. NASA is a division of the US Airforce. Which is a Military wing. Don’t forget that.

State Run Media

This may look like a 5th generation aircraft but it’s likely not. The CCP loves to release propaganda bolstering their military capabilities even though most of their military is comprised of outdated Cold War tech or copied Russian designs.

State Run Media

This may look like a 5th generation aircraft but it’s likely not. The CCP loves to release propaganda bolstering their military capabilities even though most of their military technology is comprised of outdated Cold War tech or copied Russian designs.

Doc

Yep and there goes our satellites, think about that, 85% of our comms is through sats, think about our GPS system that our ships and aircraft use for targeting… oh dear.

Maybe Obama will do the same to our manned fighter jets?
Made in china

think of how much money can be spent on Muslim outreach programs…..

Secundius

@ PerryM.

Hey, slick. The reason Obama killed ORION. Was that Contracting Companies, CEO’s were get large sign-up bonus. For something this wasn’t even on the “drawing boards”, yet.

Big Papa

Hey slick, Orion is scheduled to fly next month… that’s pretty good for a program that “Obama killed.” Obama cancelled the Constellation Program, FYI.

JEFFofTX

Could become equal?!? Now that’s funny!

attackslack

‘U.S. Pilots Say New Chinese Stealth Fighter Could Become Equal of F-22, F-35’As a long past, old as the hills, former military pilot, I’m having a good laugh and saying “doubtful.”

leobatfish

The good news Chinese pilots are probably subpar. When have you heard of a formula one driver that was chinese?

Steve Sykes

There is no such thing as a “dangerous machine”. There are only dangerous men. So long as we can consistently produce the most dangerous pilots, we have nothing to fear in the air.

It is in our national civilian leadership where we have a sucking chest wound, that threatens our survival.

des mond

Just don know why western writers like to brag that Chinese advanced planes are the results of episonage. If this really is the case either the west is that stupid to be spied upon so easily or that China is the only country in the world to be that good at stealing western secrets. Surely many others are equally good at stealing (including US and Russia). So we can see that these biased western writers only have so much of logical mentality.

Hkinsey3

Don’t worry about the Chinese stealth fighter. If we have another president like Obama we will have a stealth Air Force. You won’t be able to see it, touch it, hear it or locate it on radar. Mainly because it isn’t there. Worry about that!

Robert A. Little

So, your stand is that the administration – the executive branch – enacted the sequestration. Good going you. The U.S. has roughly 308 military bases within the U.S., about 1170 outside. After the end of a war (two here), the military is left with tired equipment, and must replace it. That is the case here, with the aviation assets of our country old and tired, Navy ships old and tired, helps in all services old and tired. Sequestration at this point has been a continuing disaster, since our military STILL has to attempt to enforce a worldwide presence.

Marjus Plaku

Why would anyone be afraid of Chinese jets? They are no where near equal the latest F-16 much less F-35 or F-22. Think toyota versus Ferrari.

Jerrick Kant

Will the J-31 have VLO qualities to rival the F-22 and F-35? NO.
Will it field sensors (radar, EW, EO) comparable to the F-35? NO.
Will it feature sensor fusion comparable to the F-35? NO.
Will its flight characteristics rival the F-22? NO.

Will its flight characteristics rival the F-35? YES.
Will it be cheap? YES.
Will it be cost-effective? YES.
Will it replace the PLA’s 3rd gen fleet in high numbers? YES.
Can China field enough of them by 2025 to threaten US local military supremacy (in the South China Sea and East China Sea)? POSSIBLY.
_____________

The F-22 has registered very lopsided victories against previous gen aircraft in training exercises. The F-35 will register lopsided victories when it participates in similar exercises. However, the margin of dominance against 4th gen Chinese fighters will hugely shrink when the J-31 is fielded.

All the same, this isn’t about a head-to-head clash against the F-35. This about the Chinese inducting a credible fighter in numbers significant enough, to challenge the USN’s freedom of operation in the Asia-Pacific region. Plus, it may be exported to states potentially hostile to the West.

If we look at the bigger picture, there’s a different fact of life emerging – China’s GDP has already overtaken the US GDP in PPP terms. In nominal terms, it’ll overtake the US GDP within a decade. The US may have a (shrinking) advantage in terms of technology and human capital, but that’s made up to a large extent by China’s low cost advantages.

Simple fact is – if you want to prevent Chinese hegemony in Asia, you need to ‘contain’ it (you can couch it in less inflammatory terms), the only viable option is an informal pan-Asian coalition; US-Japan-India supported perhaps by Vietnam, Singapore, Australia, Philippines and maybe South Korea.

By all means pay attention to the military developments, but better start cracking on that diplomacy as well.

R’ Yitzchak M

F-35 is a dud (VERIFIED DUD) it is a single engine, J-31 has 2, any failure over the Chinese or Indian Ocean area PILOT IS LOST. Survivability on 2 over one engine is substantial. Electronic warfare i.e. Growlers, E-2D, E-3, P-8A Poseidons are a substantial players in such enviroment BUT! F-35 is NOT STEALTH it is “stealthy” IR signature is substantial especially on F-35C model.. Majority of the sensors today are shifting to the high resolution IR sensors with substantial TAR (Target Acquisition Range) main work is still to be developed on lock-up on target (with still some lingering issues of “discriminations” betwen targets and decoys.) But F-35 is colosol mistake that will take the decades for NATO to recover from. And definitelly is not a platform for Chinese theatre. Too expensive and to little.. Super Hornets perhaps cost effective platform perhaps for now. But new V/A-XX looks promissing incorporating F-22 and B-2 technology into a true paradigm shift.. That one could be a game changer depending on cost as well.

Jerrick Kant

– All naval pilots wear inflatable jackets to survive ejections over sea. The twin engined F-18s safety record is not that much better than the single engined F-16s.

– The single-engined Harrier has flown for 45 years in 6 navies over every ocean in the world.

– The F-35 is designed to be low observable in the IR spectrum as well. Its engine may have a very high turbine inlet temperature, but its got a high bypass ratio along with which its nozzle has evolved from LOAN program tested on the F-16.

– IRSTs are still very limited in terms range compared to radars (especially new gen AESAs). Their performance is unreliable dependent as it is on whether conditions. Its doesn’t have the radar multi-function or IFF interrogation capabilities.

R’ Yitzchak M

Jerrick Kant narrative of your justification of safety record of F-35A not F-35C mentioned above, is to support your narrative? First engine failureS (many on this F-35C an F-35A and D’s in general are quite few). Inflating raft in Indian Ocean under challenged area of control .. good luck with that. Any bird impact in your engine there is HIGHER CHANCE that you will lose your 110 – 135 MILLION Dollars bird and good chance pilot as well. On IRST check the newer data Ruskies as well we are moving very aggressively into IR and PASSIVE AESA modes of operation, the newest missiles are also developed along the line of those technologies. On IRST they DO HAVE still LINGERING issue of perfecting thee lock-up on beyond the horizon targets (in excess of 100 miles). In todays aviators folklore there is a saying “who first turn the radar is a dead man” because you are advertising you are there and with a half decent gear of DRFM (Digital Radio Frequency Memory -jammers) will take you out of action. Today there is a major effort across the combat arena to enable Meteors, AIM-9x and AAMRAMs to be able to engage in both IR and passive radar environment that modern AESA are equipped for. Passive radar homing is the most promising and interesting. But IR signature of F-35C is abysmal F-35 significant but not THAT BAD. Bear in mind that “significant” is sufficient enough in modern warfare environment. You probably very well know all this but narrative to defend the dud that will cost quite few lives down the line for the POLITICAL REASONS. There was POLITICAL HYSTERIA involved in SCRAPING the production of F-22 in order to put all eggs into a single F-35 BASKET (case). Eventually reality check will be harsh, I just wander would those politicians would be called to account?

Tailpipe

What a joke! The information presented here by the author, Dave Majumdar, is interesting, but several grammatical errors make for a very uncomfortable reading experience. The obvious lack of quality control in the editing phase before final publishing is astounding. If DefenseOne aspires to be a first-rate online publication, the author and DefenseOne editors and staff are failing miserably in reaching the bar. This is a lack of attention to detail – one error in an article might be expected from time to time as outfits gather information from multiple sources and rush to meet deadlines, but having multiple errors in a single article make is inexcusable.

anthg

The J-31 needs 2 engines because chances are that one PRC Engine will fail miles from your one aircraft carrier.

Uniform223

let me just reiterate how lopsided the F-22 victories are in training. Last week I was fortunate to attend the Nellis AFB open house Airshow. I got the chance to speak with an F-15 aggressor pilot and said that normally 14 F-15s will duel against 4 F-22s. On average 12 F-15s will be downed before they even get close to the merge. If the F-15 is still considered the West as the standard for air superiority then what does that make an F-22, dominance.

Raptor1

Precisely… Well put.

Ronsoppinion

It would seem there is an of espionage at work here, Chinese hackers have been trying for years to get information on the stealth material used, Lockheed Martin took years to perfect this stealth material so it is pretty obvious knowledge has been gained by espionage, 30 years ago China was a land of bicycles and rickshaws so how come they can build a copy of the Lockheed Martin F35.

old guy

O that it was true….BUT most of the arguments that I have seen here do not tell the story. True, the Russkies stole everything from C-47 to B29 but the Yak and Tup and Mig fighters (especially the MIG-29) there was enough innovation to really startle the US ( I was with an A/C company for a while. A/C like the “Bear” the Antonev 200 are still around due to brilliant design. We have NOTHING to compare to the Beriev 200 water bomber. How about helicopter pioneering. Denigrating a potential enemy to build up ego is dumb (remember the stories about the poor Viet Cong peasants, who were making their weapons in cave factories?). Given, the VSTOL principles are well known and lead to similar looking aircraft for similar missions, but the REAL problem is what is the state of their electronic, control, defensive and kill systems, that don’t show in a possibly Photoshopped picture.

Ronsoppinion

Don’t forget the lesson of History learned by Germany with sophisticated Tiger Tanks against T34s, the Tigers were outnumbered 5 to 1, so no matter how good the Tigers were they were overwhelmed, the same applies to the F35 up against J-31, if there are 2000-3000 J-31 in years to come we have a problem.

Joe Schmoe

They haven’t even broke 250 with the J-10. I think we’re looking a little too far ahead there.

Ronsoppinion

The West is more technologically advanced I agree, what has really changed things in China and Russia’s favor is the amount of espionage going on, in this magazine recently it told of a Chinese man living in Canada who got the plans of the F35 by hacking the Internet, he sent them to China, I have long contacted defense industries not to have secret information connected to an outside telephone line to no avail.

Ronsoppinion

Hi joe, the West is more technologically advanced I agree, what has really changed things in China and Russia’s favor is the amount of espionage going on, in this magazine recently it told of a Chinese man living in Canada who got the plans of the F35 by hacking the Internet, he sent them to China, I have long contacted defense industries not to have secret information connected to an outside telephone line to no avail.

OLDNAVYVET

As they once said “Quantity has a quality on it’s own!”

R’ Yitzchak M

100%

DollarFray

One can only hope we guard this technology better than we’ve done with other industries we’ve handed over to China – rather than assume that China cannot catch up or reverse engineer everything. For decades, they’ve commited entire cities dedicated to educating the best and brightest of their hyper-ambitious youth.

R’ Yitzchak M

Very good assessment, they
MAIN resource are their people and EDUCATION.. time works in their advantage..
they are occupied with basic science our boys with “liberal arts”
like “male” “white” “privileges” gay rights,
“class struggles” etc etc Harvard University has its own
“political” dogma, Georgetown University HAS OVER 90% of NSA, CIA
and State Departments C.E.O’s are graduates of that university a single
largest influence on us foreign policy held by the single source and single
NARATIVE. A single narrative, single policy, and single mantra not to be challenged
by the “nuisance” of REALITY something like Bengasi, Taliban, Arab Spring etc.
etc. Reality will never compromise their political agenda. If someone wants to
make the real change and give us a chance to cope with the ensuing reality and
future challenges is to DEPOLITICISE CIA, NSA, State Department by totally dismantle
and reorganize those institutions but in the mean time to utilize and embrace
US Navy – Marines intelligence and prevent ANY MONOPOLIES to the “truth
handling” from ANY PARTICULAR GROUP. Diversify academic input and
intensify professional military INTELIGENCE at list at the beginning strategic
issues vi sa vis foreign affairs. We have the resources to gather the truth but
political “filtering” of the truth becomes the TERMINAL “POETRY”

China has no pride. The J-31 looks exactly like an F-35 with two engines. The Russians are still quite pissed by the Chinese Flanker clone J-11. China pretty much copied Russia’s Su-27 bolt-by-bolt.

The smokey engines kind of gives you a clue of the quality of this J-31. The airshow maneuvers are kind of lame too. No vertical climb or high angle-of-attack maneuvers. Just some barrel rolls and a lot of smoke circles.

This article is pure propaganda BTW. The J-31 is far from equal with it’s western counter parts. A lot of the technology like the F-35 DAS system, supercruise engines, thrust vectoring, stealth and IR reduction technology, and high boresight data-linked missiles are features that are very hard to copy. I think the Americans are still a decade ahead in stealth fighter technology.

patrick moran

I’ve seen the green tail and red star of the YAK 38 numerous places in the Crimea. They were monuments to the pilots killed flying them. The problem was they had a tendency to roll over and go out if control close to the ground. Having seen and sat in one, I was told that the model I was in would automatically eject the pilot if it started to roll too fast. Engine, nozzle and ducting problems were extensive. Hopefully the taxpayers didn’t have to pay too much for this technology. That being said, the Chinese had the originally approved F 35 plans within six months. They appear to have built the original two engine design which we changed to one engine to save money. Of course, the F 35 would have been a much more capable and survivable aircraft with two engines.

Larry Genovese

How can we be smart enough to develop this technology but stupid enough to allow them to steal the plans??

oblivion328

An equal to the F-35? So it can’t fly in the rain or at night, catches fire, and can be outmaneuvered by pretty much every other jet fighter out there?

mike rose

The administration is allow this espionage to go on. They are doing nothing to maintain our advantages. Back when I worked on the M1A1 tank, we would only allow non vital elements to leave the plant to be built elsewhere.

I would say allowing oneself to be fooled is more a foolish act than fooler’s act. After allowing technology to be stolen, and then complaining about it is no use! Give me a break! we are not talking about small programs here and there. This is America’s super secret stealth program. And if there is a problem in that setup, then it shows how fragile is America.

Jonathan Jones

This is nothing at all to worry about. Here is a fun little factoid: Phased Radar array’s make stealth technology obsolete. Stealth only works at certain band widths, and works against conventional radar systems. However, Phased Radar scans multiple frequencies at once, and can scan all radar band widths over it’s scanning cycle. A Russian scientist that defected in the 90’s revealed that the Phased Radar the Russians had developed for ground use and for use in the MIG 31 could easily see, and track stealth aircraft. And if it can be seen, it can be shot down. The U.S. developed stealth, so the Russians developed something that made stealth obsolete. To the uneducated, stealth fighters seem like a really great idea, until you find out it has been rendered useless by a 30+ year old Soviet radar (and most of the U.S. fighters have a version of phased radar, just not as powerful as the MIG 31’s is).

opensource

China needs more experience in combat. They might have the modern jet fighter but their force needs more experience. What’s the use.

Mcdonald

Let me see we americans aré so proud of our own Stuff that we forgot about the trillions of debt we have why do we want that f35 jsf project if we can’t even handle our debt as a nation the last thing we need is that the Mexicans starts lending us money then u should be scared the f35 project has been around for more than a decade and I haven’t seen not even a wing of it but just a bunch of prototypes for training issues gosh we Americans are blinded by our own misery

NeilMarshall

If they copied the design from the F-35, that must surely be good news, as the Lockheed aircraft is basically useless.

lost_4_words

The answer to this for the US will be remote controlled stealth fighter jets. Anyway, the J-31 will be selling like hot cakes on eBay before you know it. Fow dallah feefty or best offuh??!!!!

Donelo Santiago

The F35 will do just fine and whens the last time the USA had a dogfight with anyone? This is getting ridiculous—-

demo demo

fucking chinese, they always copy other countries properties.

Pepot

Quote,” THE CHINESE ARE REPORTEDLY INTERESTED IN THE PURCHASED IN THE 24 EXAMPLES OF THE MODERNIZED RUSSIAN BUILT JETS”. Pretty simple on that Chinese INTENTION. What really happens is because any Aerospace company in China cannot design and built their own as years had passed. Time and time again they RELIED ON REVERSED ENGINEERING. They pretend to buy may be (2) OF THOSE FROM Russia, dis assemble it then started to copy fabricate the Spare Parts. The Fuselage are easy for them to manufacture (Aluminum, and High Quality Flexi Glass), Weapons. The Engine from Russia, Avionics and Radars maybe foreign supplied. They have money to buy those from any supplier from Europe and Israel. Just like any other food menu. After years of assemble and disassemble, manufactured the parts, test then finally like food cooked in the oven,PRESTO a new look alike of F-22 and SU 31
comes out ready to fly and arrogantly without SHAME ON THEIR PART to show the world like, HEY, I GOT A NEW JET FIGHTER BUILT BY US AND READY TO TAKE CHALLENGE ON YOUR VAUNTED F22 AND SUKHOI 31″. To the disgust of U.S. Aerospace and Russian companies. Really disgusting to have your own design hacked and copied.

QuM3

Lockheed is pathetic for allowing the plans to be hacked and stolen by the Chinese.

richardb

China needs to get creative everything they haves is a cheap knock off lol

staff office

The Chinese (as with everything) stole designs and tried to copy a US Raptor.
But the facts remain that they can make it look like a US fighter but is sure won’t act like one! There engine technology is decades behind the US, there avionics are garbage and buggy, and QC is almost non existent in China! Also there pilots are absolutely inferior to US pilots. They have no where near the training programs US pilots have. What they can’t steal and copy they attempt to come up with there own solutions but those are always a train wreck.

pyroromancer .

The J-31 and the F-22 are two very different machines. Just look at the J-31 “rudders” on the wings and tail fins. The F-22 doesn’t have those, it relies on “vector thrusting.”

The J-31 is imperfect as far as radar stealth actually goes, because of those ole 4th gen rudders. Other advantages of true fixed wing aircraft is higher maneuverability at higher speeds. RIght now the F-22 is the only fighter jet in the world that can sustain Supercruise.

If China truly stolen the plans to the F-22 they should feature no rudders. It’s a a mere mock up from visual data gathered about the F-22.

Insanity_Claus

As of the date of this article, The J-31 was not operational. All the Chinese showed was that they could make a jet in a similar shape of the F-22. There is enough video on YouTube that they could re-engineer the shape. But having the ability to carry deployable missiles within that shape, and the advanced radar detection system in the nose is not easily replicated. Also, if you look at the rear of the J-31, you can see that it is a conventional jet engine with no ability to vector the jet stream, meaning that it cannot turn as tightly as the F-22. The F-22 would blow the J-31 out of the sky easily. The only thing they have is a stealth shape, but they could still be detectable because of their engines, which look to me to be an average jet engine.

Calvin Loyal

Obviously it’s better than the 35. Not sure about the 22 though

trebor86

I hope they’ve improved their quality control. Most of the Chinese electronics manufacturing equipment was held to horrible quality standards.

Socrates47

to what extent is the Defense Department playing up the Chinese threat to build up its inventory? It has happened before during the Cold War.

cranky_1970

In the coming age of ultra cheap precision munitions, passive detection radar, and rail guns I just don’t see much of a role for manned fighter aircraft.

Benjamin

They don’t need spies to get geometrical information on the F-35. All they need is a bloody picture! Which the US has already provided.

Artemous Hue

No matter how advanced a Chineese jet is, it is still made in China. Itll fall apart in the sky.

OttoDog

The reason the Chinese want to buy 24 Flanker-Es is the same reason the Russians bought 21 Rolls-Royce Meteor engines in 1947.,….

OnlyOneWing

Not even close. The air-frame of the F-35 is the least complicated part of the plane, that only took months to create. The J-31 has no other 5th generation features other than “possibly” stealth.

Anonymous

It’s a counterfeit!

Anonymous

It’s a F-35 counterfeit

Kevin

A fighter jet is only as good as the pilot whom wields the stick. Overall it is a pilots intuition that will ultimately get him through the worst battle. He must know ALL the
jets quirks in order to make it do what he wants.

Kevin

The Chinese are ALWAYS stealing our technology. When is our Govt. gonna get smarter. Stop putting our technology out on the web. The best kept secret we ever had was the F-117A Nighthawk. Nobody knew it existed until it was unveiled. They should build the darn things and show it when it is armed to the teeth on an adversary.
The internet is what kills everything.

remuda

Lemme see now…who was that guy that wrote “The Art of War”…hmmmm….oh yeah….Sun Tzu (Irish Guy?). Wonder if the guy who wrote “The Art of The Deal”…Whatsis? The Donald will stop that bit with his reversal of ‘market inversion’. hope…and more…

NR Taylor

Their stealth fighter won’t be operational until they can steal the F-35 finished program (which will take a few more years to get anywhere near ready).

Snitch_in_Time

Reports from French media indicate Israel has already used the F35 in a combat role against the S-300 SAM sites in Syria. Unconfirmed report indicates an S-300 site was clobbered before they even realized they were under attack. As it stands, F35 is almost science fiction level in its performance and capabilities.

Killary Obama Hussein

Us should be feeding them tainted data

Snitch_in_Time

You assume we are not? There is a lot more that goes into a 5G jet than just the external lines.

Resist_Tyranny

China has nothing

cualquier-cabron

Sure you know more than a combat pilot, with plenty experience haha, plus in case you havent heard, j31 is going to be sold while its original one (f35) is still debuging stuff non stop, so yes, keep repeating china has nothing to self, that might help u sleep at night dude.

greetings!

Resist_Tyranny

J31 is fake

Charles Deleon

Just to show you the Chinese can’t build nothing on their own they got to copy our planes and try to steal our technology as the Russians try to do the same! But do they have the same technology in there plane’s as we have in ours!!!

DazALot

Why wouldn’t any country want to develop tech from scratch when it is available already? Did we not copy locomotive technology from Britain?

Charles Deleon

I’m sure we did but we did not steal their technology! but after awhile we said it was a piece of cake so we started making our own! But henceforth and in the future we build things now on our own this is why we are the best when it comes to building things from scratch!

Paula Kate

Do you really need a professional hacker on your school result to make a better grade for you and make you happy more or you need help in hacing any account what so ever it may be, possibly a trial may convince you about [email protected] because he has really been a god in my life for this and helped me out so i have promised to promote and advertise his sense of humor about this and he will surely help you out of this in all ways and make you hnappy about having a better school grade result. All forms of hacking an account is what he knows best ….Try him and thank me later.

TheBrian

The F-35 is a turd. They had to try to find a plausible use for it after they realized how weak it really is. I think that they finally found one, but it requires the use of other air, space, or naval assets to be effective. It is a turd. It couldn’t fight it’s way out of a wet paper bag, on its own. That paper bag is probably one on a front porch, on fire, with a turd in it, at that.

TheBrian

The F-35C may be the best variant of the flying turd.

Snitch_in_Time

Tell that to Israel who has already used the F35A in combat. Thankfully people who promote that load of baquas wont be anywhere near the decision to employ F35s.

Top secret clearence

I think the 6th generation stealth fighter that flew on September 18,2015 at mach 6 speed and landed is more of a threat.I think it used two turbo-scram jet engines (based on Wang Zhengou tubo-scram jet engine,see Popular Science article with pictures) and a low cost grapheme alloy airframe.Graphene is 10 times stronger than titanium and twice the melting point of titanium.I think the SR-71,F-22 and the F-35 used a very expensive titanium alloy(75% titanium 20% Aluminum 5% composite) air frame that can be seen by quantum radar.The F-22 had to move from Japan to Guam,hopefully out of quantum radar range

Snitch_in_Time

And the Russians had thought controlled airplanes back in the 1980s. I wouldn’t believe all the Chinese boasting that always ends with “You must cancel F35, Yankee!”. Our potential near peer adversaries fear F35 more than any other plane. The rest of the world cannot compete.

Top secret clearence

We are in a arm race with China that has a 5 trillion dollars surplus, 1,300 genius and 8 million engineers.China is developing the 7th generation H-11 hybrid bomber (the light of 5 stars as reported by Russian Media) the bomber will used 4 or 6 Wang Zhengou turbo-scram jet engines to reached mach 6 speed .Then the safe hydrogen cooled 4th generation pebble bed nuclear reactor will power the rockets for near space flight as reported by CCTV-13.I think the 6th generation stealth fighter is the J-28 (Divine Hark) that used two Wang Zhengou turbo-scram jet engines and Shou-En Zhu low cost grapheme alloy airframe like the C919 airframe.Why not borrow the 1.3 trillion dollars that China has in US treasury bonds earning less than one %.We could build all our infrastructures at 2 % and make America great using American worker to design and build all our infrastructure

Top secret clearence

China has never conquer other countries,starting with the Han Dynasty.The Han Dynaty used cross bow to defeat the Huns who lived in Mongolia and the far East.The the Tang Dynasty used the cavalry and the Feghana Horse(Akhai Teke) which is stronger than the Mongolia horse to defeat the Turks who lived in Mongolia.The Ming Dynasty used cannons ,muskets and grenades to defeat the Mongols who live in Mongolia and the far East..When Zheng He sailed to Africa 3 times with 28,000 soldiers armed with cannons muskets and grenades in a fleet of 400 foot ships.He did not conquer any land in between.

Top secret clearence

I think the J-21 and J-31 with WS-15 jet engine and other weapons shown on the Zhuhai Air Show are for sale like the 128 PLZ-45 ,155 mm self artillery vehicle that used laser guided bombs .The 128 PLZ-45 was sold to Saudi Arabia and Kuwait over the objection of the US for 7.4 million dollars each. China sents 300,000 Ph d students to University world wide and graduate 8 million students every year studying mostly science and engineering.Shou-En Zhu studying at Deft University,Holland discover how to make low cost grapheme and Pan Jianwei studying at Academy of Science in Vienna discover quantum communication,quantum radar and quantum computer.China has spent 12 billion dollars for Wang Zhengou turbo-scram jet engine and spent 10 billion dollars per year for Pan Jianwei quantum physics.Anton Zeilinger is leaving Vienna to joint him.(he does not speak Chinese,he has a Ph d in quantum physic).We are broke,James Dale Davidson(advisor to 4 US presidents) said:the day of reckoning is coming,we can not keep printing money.We are in 20 trillion dollars debt.We could use the one trillion dollars or more in US treasury bonds that China holds to build our all our infrastructures.

Anna Baer

The design and engineering were stolen, or worse yet “gifted” to Communist China, during and by the Obama Administration! We have these “RATS” in all levels of our government, someone sold us down the river, by the use of espionage and outright TREASON! Wake the Eff up, America! They are the enemies within, and should not get away Scot-free!

reginol invincent

yes the chinese love the clintons her emails and weiners computer pal gave them all the chinese wanted ,see uranium one thats another job well done

haunani

I have to wonder about several things concerning the Russian and Chinese 5th generation planes. Those Giant tailpipes are not exactly unnoticeable. Are they so fearsome that that makes no difference?